December 05, 2009

A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.

Stay strong, Folky. I just texted an old friend with my ROLL TIDE wishes. Gators are good for shoes, luggage, and purses only. Beside this, my brother-in-law's a Gator, so I have to be able to rag on him at Christmas.

Overrated? Tebow has 8,556 yards passing, 84 touchdowns, 56 rushing touchdowns, a 121.1 career quarterback rating, a Heisman trophy, Davey O'Brien award, two Maxwell awards, Associated Press player of the year and two national championships -- one as a starter, one as a key role player. He's one of the best college quarterbacks who ever played the game.

I like the fact that Tebow cried. We want athletes to care that much, and Tebow's a guy with all kinds of reasons to shrug it off -- his fame, his NFL prospects, his life outside football. Tebow at the end reminded me of how my teammates and I reacted when we lost a season-ending football playoff game in elementary school. It was as if our grandmothers, favorite pets and Atari 2600s had all died at the same time.

My wife and I were not surprised by his reaction at all. We expected him to be that upset. We felt bad knowing he was going to be that upset. We felt bad when we saw his tears as he tried to talk about Alabama being a classy program etc. I don't know what I'm trying to say, other than I've watched and cared deeply about teams for many years and never cared so much about an individual player before Tebow. He just always made me feel like the feeling was reciprocated.

It was as if our grandmothers, favorite pets and Atari 2600s had all died at the same time.

Yeah, and with Tebow, I just always felt like he cared as much about my Grandma, cat and atari, as much as he did about his.

So, looking at Florida's schedule this year, why were they number one all season long? And why shouldn't Cincinnati be in the national championship game if the Huskers win tonight? Their schedule seemed to be a bit tougher than TCU's. Oh well, that's the BCS for ya. It sure beats the old CFA.

I think he had to get outside the tackles before he could throw the ball out of bounds. If Texas had no timeouts left, that would be the only way to stop the clock without losing any yardage in the time left.

Still, his nonchalance about the play nearly cost him the game. And I think the 13-12 escape and the similar unimpressive win over Oklahoma should be enough to put TCU or Cincinnati in the championship game.